Kevin Kernan

It is one thing to play bad baseball; that can happen for any number of reasons. It is quite another to play Dumb Ball and longtime baseball men insist the game has never been dumber than it is now in 2026.

For the first time ever, half the outs in the All-Star Game were strikeouts. 27 up, 27 down, 27 times the ball was not put into play by All-Star hitters who were facing All-Star pitchers, 27 Ks in the American League’s 4-0 win over the National League Tuesday night in Philadelphia. National League “hitters’’ struck out 15 times, AL “hitters’’ struck out 12 times. The 27 strikeouts were the most ever in a 9-inning All-Star Game.

With the revelation this week of major league teams using AI on their dugout iPads to make in-game decisions – with Steve Cohen’s Mets being the chief culprit according to former Mets reliever Adam Ottavino – this is another example of technology over humans and it is pure AI-nsanity.

This week I got hooked on multi-stage bicycle racing and the effortless riding of Tadej Pogacar, who won his fifth straight Tour de France. Watching the race through the Alps on Eurosports was a pleasure (not too much analytics, great scenery, and the human spirit on display) and was a welcome break from MLB, which is running another Tour de Farce.

The best thing about this MLB trade deadline is that by stealing away back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from the Tigers, the Dodgers solidified themselves as Baseball’s Villain.

Too many injuries. Too many position players pitching. Too many minor league pitchers not taught how to get through five innings in a game.

This past week we got the one play that sums up Baseball 2026 — and that play is the one-out, double no tag-up double play in Toronto on Monday between the Red Sox and Blue Jays when it appears no one knew the outs. Eventually the Red Sox were awarded the run because the runner at third, who left early, touched home plate before the final out of the seventh inning was made at first base on that runner who also left early.

New Rule: When a position player comes into a game to pitch and LOBs the ball over the plate, the game is immediately called, the team with the lead wins — and that position player cannot play for two games and that roster spot cannot be filled. I call it the LOB Rule.

Pro tip to all Nerds running MLB teams: Hire more Pat Murphys to manage your teams. And them let them manage.

In so many ways, baseball has never been dumber. Dumb things just seem to happen every day in games and in front offices, and really dumb incidents take center stage instead of baseball taking center stage. Like this week and the Tilted Cap Controversy. Dumbness.